Mexican Consulate presents Cross – Border Art & Tech Talk

April 7, 2016

Silicon Valley Latino was delighted to be a media partner as The Consulate General of Mexico in San Jose presented a lunch discussion panel on immigration, the arts and the tech sector on April 1st at the San Jose Museum of Art with guest speakers: Katie Aragon from FWD.US, Professor Matt Spangler from San Jose State University and Curator Emmanuel Audelo from the Mexican organization Habitajes. The panel was moderated by the Consul of Media Relations and Cultural Affairs, Loren Cruz, who remarked about the interest of the Consulate in promoting a positive image of Mexico and the Latino community in the area.

The discussion panel featured the contributions of the Latino community in the US and Silicon Valley, while drawing strategies in order to promote the participation of the Mexican community and for them to take a greater advantage of the programs that could enhance the exercise of their rights in this country, and the wellbeing of their families.

This panel highlighted the strength of the Latino community. Economically the Latino community has a purchasing power of more than $1.3 billion USD which represents the 10% of the country. Since 2008, the purchasing power of the Hispanic community has increased by 45% and it is expected to reach $1.7 billion USD by 2017. Mexican immigrants are also business owners that create numerous jobs. In fact, the Latino community has more than 2.3 million businesses, which accounts for more than 8% of the firms in the US. These businesses create more than 2 million jobs. Mexican immigrants, including second and third generations, account for 8% of the GDP of the US, and the Latino community’s influence in the economy is actually growing. Currently one sixth of the US population is Latino, and two thirds of them are of Mexican origin. In fact, more than 20 million people of Mexican origin reside in Texas and California, and these are the two of the principal state economies of the US!

All of the speakers brought very interesting insights to the discussion. Professor Spangler, for instance talked about the different kinds of immigrants that come to this country in order to be able to understand the myths behind immigration currently in the US in this political period. The San Jose State Professor’s research also shows that immigrants are not taking jobs from US citizens. On the other hand, Katie Aragon from FWD.US highlighted the numerous contributions that immigrants have made in the tech sector as well as industries and how immigration reform could help to regularize and match the needs of the industry in Silicon Valley and further create wealth in the US. Emmanuel Audelo, talked about how the arts are the right vehicle to join communities, eradicate myths behind immigration and work together towards a future with less social violence.

The Consulate General of Mexico in San Jose would like to give special thanks to the San Jose Museum of Art and Silicon Valley Latino for making this event possible as well as to those who joined this special discussion panel.